With the holiday season about to hit its crescendo, another highly anticipated season is about to hit us like of block of snow (especially if the New York Jet Shaun Ellis is throwing it your way). Award season is nearly upon us, with it shiny statuettes, and southern California galas, and high-priced "what to wear" outfits.
But the world of college basketball doesn't get much red carpet treatment. These gym rats get to run up and down the floors of arenas across the country. From sunny Florida to snowy Minnesota, young adults strive for the hardware, but without the extravagance of the actors, musicians, and entertainers we've all come to know and ogle over.
Here's a thought: what better way to honor these kids than at the holidays, where classes are on break and the conference grind hasn't fully developed yet?
The Rudolph: Best Point Guard
Stephen Curry is a scoring machine ... most of the time. However, the Davidson star has shifted fairly nicely into the point position on this year's Wildcat team. He leads the nation in scoring at 30.0 ppg, while increasing his assist total to 6.7 a contest.
Patty Mills is tabbed as this year's Curry. He's still got Saint Mary's in a good spot to make the West Coast Conference a multiple bid league for this year's tournament. Mills averages nearly 20 points per, and shuffles out 3.8 dimes a game. Not bad considering he should be exhausted from running with the Australian National Team this summer at the Beijing Olympics.
Ty Lawson is possibly the quickest point in the nation, and he just happens to run the whirling dervish known as the number one team in the country. The North Carolina guard pours in 15.7 points and 6.6 assists each time out.
Dark horse in this race would be Wake Forest's Jeff Teague (18.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.5 apg) and Baylor's Curtis Jerrells (17.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.3 apg), but I'd give the award to Curry for the time being. No question, he's what makes Davidson go.
The Santa: Best Big Man
Blake Griffin would probably be the early front runner in this category. The Oklahoma forward (23.0 ppg, 14.1 rpg) is putting up numbers comparable to Michael Beasley's last year. He's tailed off a bit from his blazing start (21 boards three times in the first six games and at least 15 boards in each of the first six). However, when you set the bar that high that early, it's hard to keep up.
Hasheem Thabeet is about as lanky as they come at 7'3". And that height does have its advantages. The UConn center is finally living up to quite a bit of the hype put on him the last couple of years. His numbers are pretty impressive (14.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 3.5 bpg), but he didn't really show up against Gonzaga last weekend. He'll have plenty of chances to redeem himself in Big East play.
One of Thabeet's counterpart in the Big East could be up for this honor, too. DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh continues to do his best to own the inside. The sophomore is throwing down 14.7 points and ripping down 13.0 rebounds every game. And being on such a defensive-minded team, the big man has to contribute his part with 2.1 steals a game.
A couple of dark horses for this award come from the same team. While Patty Mills is the conductor on Saint Mary's train, two big bodies provide the combustion. Center Omar Samhan (15.6 ppg, 10.0 rpg) and Diamon Sampson (12.0 ppg, 11.5 rpg) are the muscle that might help send this team on a tourney run in March. In the end, though, I'd actually pick Blair for the prize. While both Griffin and Thabeet are massively talented, a big forward who has five multiple-steal games (including three with 5 steals in each) gets my vote.
The Frosty: Most Bone-Chilling Shot
There's too many plays to think of that could be worthy of this honor. But one might have some heavier implications towards selection time in March. In the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Shootout, Virginia Tech had Xavier right where they wanted them.
A tough-fought game went to overtime tied at 52. The contest was still tied late in the five-minute period. That's when Hokies' forward Jeff Allen tipped in a missed shot to put Tech up 62-60 with under two seconds to go. The Musketeers quickly inbounded the ball to Dante Jackson, who launched a three-quarter court shot that went through the rim to push Xavier to a 63-62 victory.
The shot threw Xavier into the tournament's title game, where they upset Memphis. The Musketeers started off 9-0 before losing two difficult games against Duke and Butler (the latter on Tuesday night). Virginia Tech, while still a threat in the ACC, took a bit of a hit. The Hokies lost the third-place game to Seton Hall, and have since dropped two heartbreakers to Wisconsin and at Georgia.
If Virginia Tech struggles through conference play and winds up on the outside of the Big Dance floor again, they might have that buzzer-beater to blame.
The Reindeer Gang: Best Overall Team
Connecticut has fought off Miami (FL), Wisconsin, and Gonzaga in getting to 10-0. Baylor continues to surprise folks with their 10-1 start, including wins over Arizona State and Washington State (only loss to Wake Forest). Texas has had very impressive wins over UCLA, Villanova, Oregon, and St. Joseph's, while losing close ones to Notre Dame and Michigan State. Gonzaga, as always these days, is playing a brutal early schedule. Victories against Oklahoma State, Maryland, Tennessee, and local buddy Washington State are tempered by five-point losses to Arizona and Connecticut.
But, right now, there is only one winner of this award, and that's North Carolina. They haven't just beaten ... they've destroyed quality opponents in Kentucky, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Michigan State. All the while, they do it scoring 95.6 points a game. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. We'll see how it holds up in March.
Congratulations to this column's winners. Another couple of months with games in the spotlight, and you all might be taking home those actual trophies. But please, keep the tears to a minimum during your acceptance speech. You want to keep that rental tux as sharp as you can.
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